{"id":57214,"date":"2019-04-15T12:59:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T12:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/15\/army-sees-path-to-accelerate-itep-engine-program-with-ge\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:09:44","slug":"army-sees-path-to-accelerate-itep-engine-program-with-ge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/aaaa\/2019\/04\/15\/army-sees-path-to-accelerate-itep-engine-program-with-ge\/","title":{"rendered":"Army sees path to accelerate ITEP engine program with GE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 The U.S. Army may accelerate its Improved Turbine Engine Program<\/a> by at least a year, according to the service\u2019s program executive officer for aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service awarded a $517 million award for the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the engine program, known as ITEP, to General Electric Aviation <\/a>in February. The company beat out the Advanced Turbine Engine Company <\/a>(ATEC) \u2014 a Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney team after a decade of competitive technology development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GE\u2019s T901 engine will replace the 1970s-era T700 in both the Army\u2019s UH-60 Black Hawk utility and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and will likely outfit the Army\u2019s future attack reconnaissance aircraft<\/a> entering a competitive prototyping phase.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ITEP program is on hold since ATEC filed a protest<\/a> with the Government Accountability Office shortly after the contract was awarded. The Army awaits a decision on the protest, which is expected in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the 90-day holding pattern isn\u2019t worrying the service, Army Aviation PEO Brig. Gen. Thomas Todd told Defense News in an April 10 interview just ahead of the Army Aviation Association of America\u2019s annual summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are certainly looking forward to go do exactly what [GE] said they would do, which is, number one, beat our schedule,\u201d Todd said. \u201cAnd so we believe they will actually beat our full-rate production decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That decision is currently set to occur in fiscal 2026, according to Todd, but the Army \u201cfully incentivized and asked at least to get better than the original proposed schedule, and I don\u2019t see an issue really being inside at least a full year ahead of schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Todd noted the program will still be successful if it hits the FRP in 2026, but \u201cwe had been asked by Army leadership, by the secretary and the chief, to do a year better, and so GE has signed up to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving quicker<\/a> would be a welcome change for the program, as progress on ITEP has been a long \u2014 and often delayed \u2014 time coming, plus the Army has been wrestling with funding and development strategies for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service awarded contracts to two separate teams to design future engines<\/a> to replace an enormous portion of the service\u2019s helicopters under ITEP. ATEC was awarded a $154 million contract, while GE Aviation was awarded a $102 million contract in August 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\t